As we officially start to enter the postseason, we begin to see some of the matchups we've been waiting all year to see. We saw some league meets that really set the tone for the district races, and we saw some regional races in New York that really made us question the PA field up front. Before you read below, make sure you check out Jiminy Cricket's "A" individual rankings below this post! Now lets discuss some takeaways we all should have from this past weekend.
Westmoreland County Coaches Association Championship-
In one of the most impressive performances of the weekend, the Greensburg Salem boys showed that they're making the necessary adjustments as they gear up for another battle with Grove City at the state championships in a few weeks. Many already know about their dangerous trio up front comprised of Mark Brown and the Binda twins. However, it was the drop off to their last two scorers that cost them the title at Foundation. At their county meet this past weekend, the GS boys put 5 boys in the top 8, all of which were sub 18. This is a huge step forward to making this squad a more complete 5 as they enter the postseason. If Mason Jobe and Ethan Kelley can continue to close this gap on their fellow GS trio, Grove City might just not be able to match the firepower of this squad.
Mingo Classic-
In a tight team race, Upper St. Clair rode a 1-2 finish to hold off Bethel Park for the team title by just two points. A big race from Alex Shaw helped pull his teammate Robert O'Brien into the top two spots over Zachary Gould of Trinity Christian. As Upper St. Clair is essentially out of contention for team qualifying out D7, look for Shaw and O'Brien to qualify as individuals. While I haven't released his full list yet, Jiminy Cricket has both of these individuals ranked very high in his WPIAL rankings. After this race, look for Gould to be a medal threat out in AA. The 9:44 3200 runner has a solid resume, and was the last medalist in A last fall before his squad has seemingly moved up to AA this year.
Midwestern Athletic Conference (MAC) XC Championships-
In what was a quietly loaded individual race, Zach Leachman continued his monster junior season with yet another win. The top 5 was rounded out by Adam Hessler, two breakout stars in Jack Aulbach and Daniel Ford, and the New Castle ace in Anthony Litrenta. This was a great mix of some of the top AA and AAA guys out in Pittsburgh, and sets the stage well for some of the district races. I truly think the way Leachman is running, he has the ability to hang right off of that top 3 in Kinne, McGoey, and Anderson. Team wise, New Castle continues their dominant season in AA, winning handily by over 50 points. They're the second best team behind Greensburg Salem in D7 AA right now, the question is, how will they respond when they finally matchup with the best in the state at Hershey?
Indiana County Championships-
Continuing with the western PA meets, the Indiana Area boys took care of business, taking 7 of the top 8 spots and scoring just 19 points en route to the victory. The Indiana boys are slotted to grab the last team spot out of D7 AA, and have been consistent all season. While New Castle has been hard to beat all year, if they crack under the pressure of tough competition, this deep Indiana squad could swoop in and grab 2nd in the district.
Shikellamy Booster Cross Country Classic-
Well ladies and gentlemen, if we were uncertain about it before, we know it now. This Lewisburg squad is legit. They steamrolled a field of decent A and AA schools, scoring just over 50 points in a 20 school race. Freshman Jacob Hess looks to be possibly the next phenom in PA (reminds me of Sands), and his supporting cast is no joke either. They put 4 in the top 16, with their #5 still sliding into the top 30. There is not a single senior on this roster, which both excites and worries me. This team has slipped into contention for the top 3 or 4 at Hershey in a couple weeks, and I think we still aren't entirely sure just how good this squad is. The youth of this group shows room for tons of improvement, but experience can be everything at Hershey. But hey, Penns Valley won last year with two freshman up front, so anything is possible. Ethan Knoebel ran well to take 2nd. I think he is in contention for a top 10 spot in A if he runs well at states. Loyalsock's Alejandro Quintana rounded out the top 3. Obviously, Quinn Serfass was a total stud for this program last year, so Quintana is a name to watch in the AA field in a few weeks.
NTL Coaches Invitational-
After an up and down season, Wyalusing Valley Area is back with a dominating win over a decent Northeast Bradford team. Although they swept the top 4 spots in this race, I'm still worried about this WVA squad. I said after Foundation that this squad had the potential to be an upset team in AA at states. However, something has happened with this squad's depth, and they suddenly don't have a 5th man. I'm not sure if there was an injury or just some racing struggles, but unless this squad fills out its scoring five, its not the same team it was in the earlier weeks of the season.
Mid-Penn Conference Championships-
In an absolutely loaded conference meet, we saw some of the best talent in D3 and D6 clash at Big Spring. Once again, against an even stronger field, we saw the Mifflin County duo of Harris and Macknair finish 1-2. Brayden Harris has been one of the most underhyped, underrated guys in the state this year. He has been rolling to some big time wins, and is getting stronger and stronger. I think most people forget this kid is only a sophomore! I think the top 4 in this race (Harris, Macknair, Knepper, Wisner), are all medal threats once states rolls around. They've all shown flashes of greatness at some point this year, and all have resumes that make them reasonable picks to land in the medals. Jakolby Fackler continues his breakout season with a top 5 finish in this crowded meet up top. His name came out earlier this fall when he snagged an impressive victory at the LVC Dutchmen Invitational back in early September. Like Harris, this kid is just a sophomore, and could be a big surprise at states with how well he's running. I thought Luke Klingenberg could've been a little higher up in this race, but he's had a great season to date, so don't forget him as the D3 championships roll around. Team wise, State College looks to be just as dangerous heading into the postseason as they've been all year long. They took down the D3 favorites in Carlisle without Bennett Norton, the team's #1/#2 guy. With Norton in the race, they probably beat Carlisle by 30+ points. They're in line for a top 5 finish in AAA, and are a safe pick to do well at states with how consistent they've been this fall. Chambersburg finished 3rd in this race, and this further complicates the mess that is the back end of D3 qualifying. I had Palmyra making it through and Chambersburg sitting at home, but with Chambersburg and Hershey both squeezing out a win against Palmyra, that last spot is anyone's at this point.
45th Annual Rocky Grove XC Invitational-
In an interesting move, Grove City opted to rest their entire varsity squad except for #1 ace Jonah Powell. With apparent muddy conditions, Powell cruised his way to a 20 second victory over the A/AA field. This was probably just an easy tune-up for Powell as he preps for the postseason. In the team battle, Cranberry pulled a surprising win over Cochranton for the title. Both are solid teams in A, but I would've picked Cochranton in this preview 9 times out of 10.
Central League Championships-
In yet another race at Rose Tree, the Haverford boys picked up another win. However, this time around, it wasn't so comfortable. In what looked like a tight individual race, Donnelly couldn't quite secure the victory, struggling in the later parts of the race and fading to 3rd. Lower Merion's Joey Litvin came up with what was probably his first big win to date, winning the Central League title. Finishing 2nd in a pleasant surprise was Penncrest's Patrick Theveny. I'm pumped about this because Theveny hasn't been all that great this fall, but after what he did both in XC and on the track last year, this kid is clearly capable of doing big things. As pointed out by a commenter, Haverford was only able to take down Lower Merion by 8 points, yet there is a BIG difference separating these two teams in the district rankings right now. My response to that is, well, welcome to D1. I said in my rankings that some of the Chesmont teams could absolutely jump Haverford right now, but I also pointed out how Lower Merion's consistency could vault them into qualifying. Litvin is definitely a better low stick right now than I thought, and with how a team like West Chester East ran at Manhattan, LM's odds are looking better and better.
Manhattan HS Invitational-
Well, I like to be blunt when PA doesn't perform well. As some of our finest talent headed up to NY this weekend, expectations were high. When the eastern states results dropped on Twitter, and I saw no PA team in the top 10, I assumed there was a mistake. However, as the results became official, and I indeed saw LaSalle finish 11th, and Dwest finish 14th, I was stunned. These were not the performances we've become accustomed to seeing from these squads. Amongst all 5 PA teams in the championship race, we put just two individuals in the top 50. If you told me heading into this meet that Noah Demis would be PA's top finisher, I probably would've laughed. But he was, beating out Sewall, Lewin, and all of LaSalle's squad. Breaking 13 in the madness of this race is never easy to do, so for Demis to be our top finisher in eastern states says a lot about his consistency, reliability, and just raw fitness right now. Another tough race for Twomey as he barely squeaks into the top 100. So what does all this mean for us? Yes, teams are allowed bad races. However, in this caliber field, this was the first real test for both Dwest and LaSalle as they prep for the WPIAL powerhouses. While Dwest and LaSalle are still two of the top 4 teams in the state, they're absolutely vulnerable right now, and I think North Allegheny now becomes the favorite by default. For Dwest to bolster their bid for a state title, they will have to absolutely steamroll the field at districts. For LaSalle, we will have to see a healthy Twomey back in regular form for them to have any shot at winning. As for West Chester East, I'm not quite sure what happened. Across the board, it was not a good day for just about anyone. They lost to North Penn, who I barely even have ranked inside the top 10. A race like this just goes to show how there are teams in D1 that could be top 3 finishers, that could also not even make it through on race day. I'm already getting nervous for these district races!
*Not to be forgotten though, Christian McComb had the fastest PA time of the day by over 10 seconds, running 12:47 in one of the varsity races. While I think its a little easier to run faster in those races because its not as crowded, this was just another race to add to McComb's impressive resume as he gears up to try and win a district title in 10 days or so.
-The RunningHub
